How Did Skype Lose To Zoom?

9 years ago, Skype would be your first choice video calling platform, now, It is nothing more than a bystander to modern video calling apps, and most recently, Zoom.

You're probably wondering how Skype lost out to Zoom so badly? Well, Skype isn't even Microsoft's main focus now, or at least in terms of how they sell VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) communications platforms. In terms of the story that has unfolded over the last 3-5 years, Microsoft has been pushing hard on its Teams platform, initially focusing more for small businesses to collaborate, but it has now been marketed for friends and families as a means of communicating over video remotely.

How Did Skype Lose To Zoom?

Teams has risen as a result of Microsoft carrying over the basic functions of Skype for Business, and reshaping their service to look more modern, work faster, and be more mobile friendly - Something that Skype and Skype for Business still doesn't do too well in. Skype is still (pretty) basic, you can message, call, send files etc, but unlike Zoom, it isn't widely adopted by both companies and individuals hands in hand. What we mean, is that people don't seem to use Skype to call at work, as well as use it to call friends and family from home. Businesses nowadays can do better than Skype.

Zoom and admittedly, Teams, have both got much better collaborative tools, as well as ways to assign tasks, create groups and channels, and easily host larger scale conference calls.

Although Skype can certainly be used by businesses, it has a 50 user group call limit, while Zoom's free version holds up to 100, expanding to 500 when a business opts into its premium service. Zoom is certainly a little less user-friendly, but only because a lot more people will be used to using Skype and Skype for Business, but Zoom is, on the other hand, better to do business with. It can actually connect with the likes of Microsoft Teams and Slack to carry out work schedules and file storage, this has left Skype out of the picture. On Zoom, users can screen share in large groups, and there are options to have custom backgrounds, as well as for participants to raise their hands, much better for educational purposes.

How Did Skype Lose To Zoom?

Both applications have good security, although Zoom did start off shaky during the start of the pandemic, it has now implemented some very useful security patches, such as admin controls, and the requirement to have a chat ID and password to enter any Zoom call, once you have these, you still need permission from the host to be let in. This stops hackers and pranksters from accessing work meetings and online lessons, which is great for company data security, as well as for protecting younger generations from potentially disturbing language and/or videos shared by hackers or pranksters.

Zoom is trending, it works better for businesses, and it is actively updating its profile so it is a safe as possible, compared to Microsoft's Skype, the focus isn't there, so people are turning away from the latter, which is now somewhat outdated, and a slightly limited application.

Thank you for reading 'How Did Skype Lose To Zoom?' by IT Block. IT Block is an IT support services provider based in Singapore and a registered Google News source.